Chapter I: Story about Jamshed
I have heard that Jamshed, whose good nature was known,On the head of a fountain inscribed with a stone:—"At this fountain great numbers, like us, have drawn breath,Who, within an eye's twinkle, have tasted of death.I have conquered a world by my manhood and strength ;And yet, to the grave cannot bear it at length."When over a foe you can pow'r exercise,Do not gall him! the sorrow for him should suffice.A living foe near you, whose mind is a wreck,Is better by far, than his blood on your neck.
Words in this poem
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: Story about Jamshed is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Garden of Fragrance: being a complete translation of the Bostan of Sadi from the original Persian into English verse, by G. S. Davie (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1882), Internet Archive, the G. S. Davie translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Saadi, Chapter I: Story about Jamshed, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-11.html, id L29516.
Form and metre
Chapter I: Story about Jamshed is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEE knownA · stoneA · breathB · deathB · strengthC · lengthC · exerciseD · sufficeD · wreckE · neckE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I have heard that Jamshed, whose good nature was known, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| On the head of a fountain inscribed with a stone:— | 12 | ·····/˘˘/··· |
| "At this fountain great numbers, like us, have drawn breath, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Who, within an eye's twinkle, have tasted of death. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| I have conquered a world by my manhood and strength ; | 12 | ··/˘····/··· |
| And yet, to the grave cannot bear it at length." | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| When over a foe you can pow'r exercise, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Do not gall him! the sorrow for him should suffice. | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| A living foe near you, whose mind is a wreck, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Is better by far, than his blood on your neck. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.